Who Reads and Who Doesn't

Roughly a quarter of American adults (23%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted Jan. 25-Feb. 8, 2021. Who are these non-book readers?



The article is here: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/21/who-doesnt-read-books-in-americ...

A missed opportunity is a categorization of the reasons why.

For me, it involves the deaths of my mother and my one-in-ten-billion wife.
The last book I read was on the plane trip home from visiting my mother three weeks before she died. After that, things went downhill and my priorities excluded any "me" time. Then, there's that grief thing. Still dealing with that, even three years later.
And that doesn't mean I haven't read ~anything~, but I can't seem to get past the first couple of pages, no matter what book is about.

>2 WholeHouseLibrary: Sorry for your losses. I'm sure that would cause one to lose their concentration.

These surveys never give a definition of the word ‘reading’. I bet they mean fiction, but there are a lot of people who would never pick up a novel, but do read newspapers, magazines, car manuals and other technical stuff which they don’t think of as reading books - my husband is one of them. He would answer no if this survey was put to him, but he reads The (London)Times every day.

I think that this is important:

"Americans ages 50 and older, for example, are more likely than their younger counterparts to be non-book readers."

I don't know what year they started to identify learning disabilities in school, but I think that is the most important reason that people are not readers. When you are a very slow or struggling reader it is difficult to put the words together in a cohesive sentence or paragraph. This is true of even highly intelligent people. I have several in my life.

If they switch to audiobooks, they may even become voracious readers.

>2 WholeHouseLibrary: I am sorry to hear of your loss. Take care.

>2 WholeHouseLibrary: I understand your grief. I still miss my departed husband, although he passed 6 and a half years ago and I have since remarried. You have my sympathies.

>2 WholeHouseLibrary:

I extend my sympathies on your losses. These past two years, with their social restrictions, have made dealing with grief more difficult. I hope you are able to find support that will help you to heal.

Best wishes.